The present invention relates to medicine injection systems for animals. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for alerting the user of an automated animal injection system that the syringe needle should be changed.
Worldwide, the agribusiness industry is facing a public acceptance crisis. In the food animal industry, increased incidences of blemished, contaminated, diseased, or overmedicated meat products have resulted diminished consumer confidence in the wholesomeness of meat protein. Furthermore, the public outcry for safe meat is forcing a flurry of more stringent federal legislation relating to source and process verification during meat production, from animal conception to public consumption.
Numerous recent advances are revolutionizing meat safety systems and processes. Specifically, the commercially available VAC-MARC(copyright) and VAC-TRAC(copyright) products, both offered by AgEcom Inc. of Marietta, Ga. 1-800-793-1671 are creating new industry standards. VAC-MARC(copyright), one embodiment of which is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,494 (incorporated by reference herein) provides a reliable, simultaneous method of marking an animal while delivering an injection to the animal, thus eliminating accidental multiple injections or non-injection of the animal.
VAC-TRAC(copyright), one embodiment of which is taught in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/477,262, filed Jan. 4, 2000 (also incorporated herein by reference), provides a system whereby the unique identity of an animal and information relating to injections given to the animal are automatically and electronically linked, recorded, and maintained in a central database for analysis, review and reference. Thus, the system creates for each animal a body of data relating to each and every injection given the animal, which body of data can be used for a variety of comparative, scientific and commercial purposes.
While both of these inventions represent quantum leaps in the historically technology-starved agribusiness industry, they do not address every possible avenue by which contaminants or other undesirable agents could be introduced into food animal products.
For example, in the livestock vaccination process, a single needle, attached to a syringe such as the VAC-MARC(copyright) is typically used until it is no longer serviceable because it has either (a) become too dull to easily penetrate the animal""s flesh, (b) is bent, or (c) has broken off in the animal. In each case, the needle has almost certainly been used far beyond the 15-20 injections per needle recommended by Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) programs. Consequently, the likelihood of introduction of unwanted contaminants and disease have been passed to a healthy animal are significantly increased.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and related method for determining when the number of times a syringe needle has been used.
There is another need for a system and related method for alerting a person using the syringe needle that the predetermined, recommended number of syringe needle usages have occurred.
There is yet another need for a system and related method by which use of the syringe needle is disabled upon usage of the syringe needle exceeding a maximum predetermined number of usages.
The foregoing needs and shortcomings in prior art systems are satisfied by the present invention, which is a system for automatic needle change warning. The system comprises, generally, a syringe having a syringe needle. The syringe has a sensor for sensing physical contact between the syringe needle and the syringe. As the sensor detects that a syringe needle has just been completely and properly installed into the syringe, a counter communicatively connected to the sensor re-sets to a value of xe2x80x9czeroxe2x80x9d, this value indicating the number of injections given with the needle which was just installed.
The counter automatically and cumulatively counts each injection given to the animal during a period of continuous physical contact between the syringe and the syringe needle. When the number of cumulatively counted injections given during the period of continuous physical contact between the syringe needle and the syringe equals a predetermined maximum number of injections, a syringe needle change warning mechanism delivers a needle change warning to the operator of the syringe. The needle change warning may be audible, visible, may disable the syringe, or may prevent any further information relating to subsequent injections from being recorded in a database.